Rick Parry, the former Liverpool chief executive, has led the government's review of policy on corruption in sport. Photograph: Barry Coombs/Empics Sport/PA Photos

A review launched by the government in the wake of high-profile match-fixing allegations is set to recommend the creation of a single unit dedicated to investigating corruption in sports betting.

The review panel, chaired by the former Liverpool and Premier League chief executive Rick Parry, is believed to have concluded that a single integrity unit with investigative powers is the only appropriate response to the growing threat.

But there is a debate over whether to house the new unit within the Gambling Commission, the regulator set up two years ago by an act of parliament, or establish a standalone unit based on the British Horseracing Authority's state-of-the-art operation.

Parry will deliver his recommendations to the sports minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, before the end of the year and the government is believed to be determined to act on the issue before the general election.

Major sports would have to be convinced that the beefed-up unit significantly improved on their own integrity arrangements before committing to the new set-up.

An interim arrangement could see racing and football continuing to investigate their own integrity issues before transferring responsibility and resources to the combined unit over time.

The Football Association, which launched its dedicated integrity operation in June, is likely to join other major sports in giving a cautious welcome to the idea of a unified unit.

By giving the new unit responsibility for policing betting on all sport taking place in this country, it is hoped that expertise and costs can be shared and it will help prevent corrupt gamblers simply switching from sport to sport.

A series of high-profile allegations involving snooker, tennis, football, horse racing and cricket have brought the issue to the forefront of government thinking. The explosion of online bookmakers, the growth of betting exchanges such as Betfair, the extension in the range and type of bets on offer and the global nature of the sports-betting business have fuelled fears that corruption is growing.

Some sports, including football and horse racing, have set up their own units to fight corruption. Horse racing, forced to act in 2005 in the wake of the fallout from the BBC's Panorama exposé, is seen as having led the way. Its unit costs around £3m a year to run and employs 15 people.

The Gambling Commission has been criticised for failing to get to grips with the scale of the problem by some within sport. If the option taken is to house the new unit within the commission, its critics will stress the need for it to be more proactive and add appropriate expertise.

Housing it within the Gambling Commission would enable its investigators to benefit from the powers granted under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, including the ability to apply for access to telephone records, and provide a means of funding the new unit through the existing bookmaker licensing system.

Figures published by the commission last month showed that 71 cases of suspicious betting were reported in the two years to September 2009. Of those, 27 were passed to the relevant sporting body for investigation and six are being investigated by the commission. The BHA's integrity unit tends to have between 10 and 12 investigations open at any one time.

Parry has worked hard to maintain the focus of the panel, comprising a mix of bookmakers, security experts, sports figures and consumer champions, on the issue of integrity in sport, without straying into other battles between the sports and bookmakers over the concept of a "betting right" and regulating offshore operators.

There is a recognition that the new unit will overlap with attempts by international sporting federations to deal with the issue. The International Cricket Council established its own integrity unit in the wake of a series of high-profile scandals and the International Tennis Federation also has its own unit, although it has been criticised for being under-resourced.

Uefa's president, Michel Platini, has made the issue a priority, setting up an integrity unit designed to monitor betting patterns across European football. Last month, 17 people were arrested after more than 200 games across nine countries were implicated in the biggest match-fixing scandal to hit European football. German police warned it was "only the tip of the iceberg".

Those close to the process are convinced that any new UK-based unit could work alongside international bodies and hope that a standalone operation could act as a model of best practice that would influence thinking around the world, becoming globally co-ordinated over time in the same way as the fight against doping has become more sophisticated over the past decade.

Parry's report will recommend a broader range of measures including education programmes for sportspeople.